B.C. sex tourist Kenneth Robert Klassen handed 11 years in jail

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Ward Perrin
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Ward Perrin
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Ward Perrin
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Ward Perrin
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen, who has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of sex with girls under 14 in Colombia and Cambodia and one count of importing child pornography, awaits sentencing at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Wednesday.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert Klassen is seen at B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Friday.Nick Procaylo
/ PNG

Kenneth Robert KlassenSubmitted
/ PNG

VANCOUVER — A Burnaby man has been handed the longest sentence ever awarded in Canada for committing acts of sexual tourism: 11 years in prison.

In May, Kenneth Robert Klassen, 59, pleaded guilty to six counts of invitation to sexual touching involving girls under the age of 14 in Colombia. The offences occurred between December 1998 and March 2002.

The international art dealer and divorced father of three also pleaded guilty to eight counts of invitation to sexual touching involving girls under the age of 14 in Cambodia in August 2001.

The case began when customs officials seized a suspicious package from the Philippines that Klassen had mailed to himself. The package contained commercial child pornography.

When Klassen picked up the package in September 2004, he was arrested.

Police executed a search warrant at his home and at a storage locker in Vancouver. They seized 21 DVDs containing more than 200 images of child pornography.

Klassen had arranged for a woman to take a computer course so that she could edit out his face from the images of him having sex with the girls.

The sex offences, ranging from fondling to digital penetration to sexual intercourse, took place inside his Colombian home and at hotels.

In Cambodia, the offences took place in a two-and-a-half-day period in a hotel room.

In sentencing Klassen Wednesday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen said expressions of remorse and insight on Klassen’s part were “less than full and complete.”

He said a significant aggravating factor in the case was the vulnerability of the girls being abused, whether they were already in the sex trade or were just being initiated into it by Klassen. An additional aggravating factor was that the accused arranged to have the incidents videotaped and paid for a woman to edit out his face from many of the clips.

“I find the offender’s conduct to be very serious and his moral blameworthiness to be very high,” said the judge.

He added that Klassen’s conduct was a “gross violation” of the natural imperative to protect children and not harm them.

Cullen said the offences reflected Klassen’s “callous preoccupation with his own pleasure.”

The judge imposed a sentence of 10 years for the 14 sex offences against the girls and one year consecutive for the child-pornography charge.

Cullen ordered that Klassen provide a DNA sample and register with the sex-offender registry for 20 years. He also ordered that Klassen stay away from areas where children gather such as parks and playgrounds.

The accused, wearing the rumpled summer suit he wore during the sentencing submissions, had little reaction upon sentencing.

Before the judge gave his reasons for sentencing, he rose and gave an apology.

“Your honour, I’m sorry for all I’ve done, with all my heart,” said the soft-spoken offender.

Crown counsel Brendan McCabe had asked for a sentence of 12 years for Klassen. Outside court, he said he was happy with the sentence, especially for the victims.

Klassen’s lawyer, Ian Donaldson, was not immediately available for comment. Donaldson and his co-counsel, Len Doust, had called for a sentence of five to six years for their client.

Brian McConaghy, a former RCMP officer who now works with a Vancouver-based charity that helps exploited children in Cambodia, said outside court that he doubts the sentence will deter others.

“I don’t think for the hard-core guys who hunt overseas for children, this is not a particular deterrent for them,” he told reporters. “The drive to do this is very powerful.”

But McConaghy said he was pleased the judge found that Klassen was in a position of trust because he had abused vulnerable children in impoverished countries.

“If you go in as a rich Westerner, you’re in a position of trust. That’s a very interesting and a very useful element.”

He said the charity he works for, the Ratanak Foundation, currently has 59 girls being treated for abuse in Cambodia.

“They come in horrendously, physically, psychologically abused. Some of these kids have only been raped a couple of hundreds of times, many of them thousands of times. These are little bodies. These are small kids. They range in age from six and up.”

He called Klassen a “predator,” noting he had assaulted eight girls in Cambodia in only a two-and-a-half-day period.

“He travels and hunts and he’s very efficient at doing it. Canadian society has to come to terms with it and realize these people are out there and deal with them accordingly.”

Brian Rushfeldt, executive director of Canada Family Action, a faith-based conservative family group, said in a press release that he was encouraged by the ruling.

“Thankfully there are judges who will view this crime as horrendous, destructive and vile as it is and apply justice based on real justice principles. We only hope this man is never allowed opportunity again to assault defenceless children and never allowed to leave the country.”

It was the third such case of so-called sex tourism to be heard in a Canadian court and represented the longest sentence yet handed down by a judge.

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